General opinion seems to be that 8K is a long way off, but it's actually coming much faster than people think, and the industry is gearing up (literally) for it. Case in point: meet the new Blackmagic DeckLink 8K Pro capture card that 'breaks new ground in high quality' by supporting formats ranging from SD, to HD, Ultra HD, 4K, 8K and 8K DCI.

Oh, and it can also handle 64 channels of audio, stereoscopic 3D, and high frame rates... you know... just cause.

The card can do all of this because it's the world's first to feature quad link 12G‑SDI bi-directional connections that Blackmagic says "can be used to either capture or playback quad link 8K, or for the simultaneous capture and playback of single or dual link SDI sources." And as far as colors go, the DeckLink 8K Pro can work in 12‑bit RGB 4:4:4 as well as Rec. 2020, which is, "a massive color space designed for high dynamic range Ultra HD and digital cinema work in 4K and 8K."

All of this from this little powerhouse of a card:

Photo: Blackmagic

Of course, the bit Blackmagic won't tell you is that you'll need a monstrous computer to make any of this work... and an 8K monitor to boot. But if you were paying attention at the beginning of this article you'd already know: 8K is coming and it's coming fast. Professional videographers and video editors may want to start preparing for it now.

And if that prep involves buying this monster of a card, you should know that the DeckLink 8K Pro will be available starting in early January for $645 USD. For more information, check out the full release below or visit Blackmagic's website for a breakdown of all their DeckLink products.

Press Release

Blackmagic Design Announces DeckLink 8K Pro with Quad Link 12G‑SDI

The world’s first quad link 12G-SDI capture and playback card designed for high resolution, deep color high dynamic range 8K workflows!

InterBEE 2017, Tokyo, Japan - November 15, 2017 - Blackmagic Design today announced DeckLink 8K Pro, a new high performance capture and playback card featuring quad link 12G‑SDI to allow real time high resolution 8K workflows. This new DeckLink 8K Pro breaks new ground in high quality as it supports all film and video formats from SD all the way up to 8K DCI, 12‑bit RGB 4:4:4, plus it also handles advanced color spaces such as Rec. 2020 for deeper color and higher dynamic range. DeckLink 8K also handles a massive 64 channels of audio, stereoscopic 3D, high frame rates and more.

DeckLink 8K Pro will be available in early January for US$645 from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide.

In addition, Blackmagic Design has also announced a new low price of US$895 for DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G.

DeckLink 8K Pro will be demonstrated at InterBEE in Japan on the Blackmagic Design booth 8211.

DeckLink 8K Pro is the ultimate digital cinema capture and playback card. Featuring four quad link multi rate 12G‑SDI connections, DeckLink 8K Pro can work in all SD, HD, Ultra HD, 4K, 8K and 8K DCI formats and is compatible with all existing professional SDI equipment. The 12G‑SDI connections are also bi-directional so they can be used to either capture or playback quad link 8K, or for the simultaneous capture and playback of single or dual link SDI sources.

When it comes to quality, DeckLink 8K Pro is better than any other solution because it lets customers work with both more pixels than ever before and better pixels than ever before. The 8K images have 16 times more pixels than a regular 1080 HD image, which lets you reframe or scale shots with incredible fidelity and precision. DeckLink 8K Pro also works in 12‑bit RGB 4:4:4 as well as Rec. 2020, which is a massive color space designed for high dynamic range Ultra HD and digital cinema work in 4K and 8K.

The combination of higher resolution, a vastly larger color space and incredible dynamic range means that DeckLink 8K Pro delivers the sharpest and most vivid images customers have ever seen for editing, color and high end visual effects work.

DeckLink 8K Pro supports capture and playback of 8 or 10-bit YUV 4:2:2 video and 10 or 12‑bit RGB 4:4:4. Video can be captured as uncompressed or to industry standard broadcast quality ProRes and DNx files. DeckLink 8K Pro lets customers work at up to 60 frames per second in 8K and supports stereoscopic 3D for all modes up to 4K DCI at 60 frames per second in 12‑bit RGB.

The advanced broadcast technology in DeckLink 8K Pro is built into an easy to install 8 lane generation 3 PCI Express for Mac, Windows, and Linux workstations. Customers get support for all legacy SD and HD formats, along with Ultra HD, DCI 4K, 8K and DCI 8K, as well as Rec. 601, 709 and 2020 color.

DeckLink 8K Pro is designed to work seamlessly with the upcoming DaVinci Resolve 14.2 Studio for an incredibly seamless editing, color and audio post production workflow that lets you master full resolution high dynamic range projects in full 8K resolution. In addition, DeckLink 8K Pro also works with other professional applications such as Final Cut Pro X, Media Composer, Premiere Pro, After Effects, ProTools, Nuke and more. There’s even a free software development kit so customers and OEMs can build their own custom solutions.

“DeckLink 8K Pro is our most advanced PCIe capture and playback card ever,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “It’s exciting because the 8K images have so much clarity and detail that it’s as if you’re looking out a window. Whether it’s for the 2020 Olympics or the next generation of Hollywood blockbusters, DeckLink 8K Pro has the speed, quality and compatibility customers need to do their best work!”

Availability and Price

DeckLink 8K Pro will be available from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for US$645 in early January. DeckLink 4K Extreme 12G is available now from Blackmagic Design resellers worldwide for US$895.

Getting back to layman language. Can this card be fitted into a iMAC. Can 8K video be processed in FCP. Can one get good quality stills from the 8K video. Any noise coming from camera manufacturers re 8K DSLR's. I noticed that some DSLR 4K cameras down scale from 6K to 4K, so going to 8K shouldn't be a problem. Don't need a 8K monitor, in editing a video.Thanks.

I’m getting tired of BlackMagic and Grant Petty. He releases products early, then can’t make them work. I have a Decklink 4K card that hasn’t worked since OS11, and his tech support team can’t make it work either. I can feed my 4K monitor from my Nvidia card with far more success, and I run3 HD monitors in addition.

Amazing capabilities for such a small size card!!! It was impossible to imagine all this power and integration on such a small "real estate" just a few years ago!This is a reasonable price too. I remember using a board twice this length that produced a 480 video, back in the mid to late 1990s, at a cost of around $1,600.

I already have the computer power (Intel Xeon E5-2683 V3), and the motherboard can handle up to 256GB DDR4 RAM, BUT ... I'll need an 8K camera, and an 8K monitor first. Two arms and a leg!So, I'll forget the idea for now and wait until these 2 items become affordable.

I was at a 8K demonstration from NKH (IBC, Amsterdam) on a 6 meter screen, sitting at a distance of some meters. There were also 22 channels of audio. I can tell you, it compares to nothing. It was as if you are there. Very, very impressive. My partner became so emotional from the Japanese demo that she had to cry, because of the beauty of the images and the sound. Big screen theaters will be never the same with 8K screens.

Commerically speaking; 8K are 16 normal HD images. If you place one 8K camera at top of a stadium you can make 16 different shots in HD quality and pan around. So less camera's are needed to cover a game. NHK already showed that kind of use.

Exactly, your last sentence. Nothing wrong with that.But your statement about HDR... <I shudder>But then again, it's personal preference.I prefer to have 8K as an option, as 4K was an option when 1080p was the only thing. Time moves on. Flexibility and future proofing is nice.

There are very few cinema releases in 4k, 2K is the norm and even then all those pixels aren't used with standard aspect ratios. Ratio 2:39 is 2048 x 856 that uses less pixels than 16x9 1080 in a 2K DCI container.Projected 35mm after optical printing would be lucky to reach HD res.

davev8 is just pointing a fact. 8k means the sensor has to be at least 32mp and there are no m43 sensors able to manage that resolution. They can squeeze the pixels but with a penalty. That will be the end of it. No bashing.

@Dreamer, i agree bashing is all too common but it's not like no MFT users do it. I have owned FF and apsc Nikon, apsc Canon, apsc Sony, and MFT. I can tell you from spending time in every forum here that there are poo talkers in every one.

While 8K is certainly coming, no one knows how long it will be before it's actually relevant in the market segment that m4/3 cameras inhabit. Considering that affordable high quality 4K is only just now becoming common place, I'd guess we have awhile yet. Besides, a 32MP m4/3 sensor would have at least as good of quality as today's 20MP 1" sensors. It's hardly out of the question.

dream....m4/3 does suck....I have 4 m4/3 cameras sitting in my closet that I haven't used in years...Wanna buy em?....I'd rather use my 10 year old FF camera....And I do...Size does matter....Now...Grow up!!!!And grow some thicker skin....:=)

I have a dream ......its not me that's sounding very insecure.....i was just stating a fact ...that if DPR is correct and 8K is here in the not too distant future and m43 cameras are at the forefront of video now as a big selling point and there is no rumored m43 sensors that can do 8K ....its a good job i did not shout EQUIVALENCE els you may of had an embolism

Current phone-camera pixel sizes would scale to about 16K in 4/3" format, so if and when there is a demand for 8K in MFT, it would be easy as far as sensors go. If anything, smaller sensor sizes can handle high data rates more easily, due to shorter signal paths.But realistically, so far 8K video is offered in a few professional models costing about US$80,000, aimed at broadcasting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, while even the latest Sony A7R III with 42MP (8K frame width) sensor only delivers 4K video; why would you expect MFT to be on it already?

I'm not sure where the idea came around that you have to have an xK monitor to really benefit from xK footage. Watching 4K Youtube videos on a 1080p monitor results in images that are noticeable sharper from the streaming downscale. Even when editing, you can absolutely notice the difference made by 8k footage on a 4k panel.

You are correct. People say you don't need a 4K or 8K monitor because they are still using the old 1080 standard which said the distance from you to the screen should be about 2x of the diagonal screen size—for a 40-inch TV that's over 6 feet. For 4K you need to sit about 1x of the diagonal of the screen size or just over 3 feet for a 40-incher.They are also living in the past cinematographically, the whole point of shooting 4K is that the director can relax the frame and fill it with lots of interesting objects and scenery for the viewer to enjoy whereas in the 1080 days, shots were tighter and didn't have much going on besides the actors.

No, really? Only for the ill-informed. In order to do 8K, you need to be a technically superior engineering company. With Sharp/Astro and now Black Magic, they are showing they are innovators instead of followers. I would assume we will see many 8K systems coming out in the near future to support the 2020 Olympics.

I think they mean United States broadcast and cable television systems. The upgrade from 480 to 720/1080 was a huge undertaking in which everyone dragged their feet as long as possible. The politics and money it will take to get us to 4K or 8K seems like an insurmountable problem. Our friends in Japan are already working on making it happen, just another reason that it is the coolest country on earth.

Amen. Look at the U.S.'s garbage "HD" TV standard. There's no requirement for horizontal resolution. There's no provision for updating receivers with new codecs. And, worst of all, IT ALLOWS INTERLACING.

The U.S. digital TV standard is still a 1930s hack, and that's pathetic.

The new UHD standard will upgrade the system for broadcast with 10bit, rec 2020 , HDR and HFR. If they didn't include interlacing then fast action sports and camera moves would have unacceptable judder if shot at 25/30p. When 1080p60 becomes widespread for broadcasting then interlacing will be obselete. UHD supports up to 120fps.

Yes, I assumed that for it to be filmed in 8K, they will deliver it in 8K as well. But my question is: how many will watch it in 8K? I remember when the Olympics a few years ago was shot in 4K, and back then very, very few people watched it at 4K resolution. That's my point.

I do not disagree with you on that, I merely say that it will take a while for it to become mainstream. As for that 22 channel audio, I think that will take even longer to become anywhere near mainstream. 5.1 already had a hard enough time getting a foot in the door.

How will it be broadcast in 8K? In the U.S., at least, we don't even have a provision for 24P. We have no provision for updating receivers with new firmware or codecs. We are stuck perpetually with garbage MPEG-2 at less than 19 Mbps, along with interlacing and non-integer frame rates.

We have no consumer Internet conduit with the throughput to deliver 8K, either.

8k might be a long way off for consumer, but it's already here for capture and processing, just like you capture 4k even if the end result is to be 1080p.That and 360 - 4k is just not cutting it there.

Capturing 8K at the source is easy. The Red Camera can only capture to internal memory. For the Olympics, you need a mechanism to be able to transport the 8K video in real time. In the near future, you will see tons of announcements to fill in the missing pieces to create an 8K infrastructure. Until specs are defined, it looks like quad 12G SDI will be the transport mechanism. So, things like 8K switchers and 8K extenders should be announced shortly.

That's the usual knee-jerk response, and understandable since there aren't any 8K TVs at Costco.

But in reality, the emergence of 360 degree video means 2K and even 4K are no longer enough of a capture size. Even if a 2K/4K frame is the final destination, 360 capture and the resulting AR/VR mastering are probably some of the "killer apps" of 8K capture/edit.

360-degree video is a dumb gimmick that will die faster than home 3-D.

Making a film or TV show is a monumental undertaking as it is, even when shooting 16:9 2-D. How many people are going to shoot 360 degrees of footage, color-correct it, stitch it together, and author it.... just in case one guy turns his head around 1 hour and 22 minutes into the show?

8K doesn't even need 360 to be useful. There are cameras right now that act as a single 4K camera pointed at for example, a talk show panel, but you can crop different 2K feeds out of that one 4K view. For instance, one view of the entire set, one view of just the host, one of just a guest. An 8K camera doing the same job would have more flexibility in being able to pull multiple full resolution 4K and 2K frames out of a wide 8K view.

360 really kills the art of editing and cinematography that is a huge part of the`film' look. Good for games though and technical applications.I missed so much action or story when looking the `wrong way' with a 360 video.

"the DeckLink 8K Pro can work in 12‑bit RGB 4:4:4 as well as Rec. 2020"

12-bit RGB 4:4:4 is a computational achievement.

Rec. 2020 is not. By that, i don't mean that a big color space is not important. But it's basically just header information. You don't need any processing power for this, it's just a variable written to the video codec

Ok, color me intrigued. I know about all this stuff in a way that would be useful for a cinematographer, not at programmer or engineer. Wouldn’t the card have to be able to understand all of the colors in the rec 2020 gamut to display them? So wouldnt that require extra development to do so?

Let’s compare a TIFF in sRGB and AdobeRGB 8/24-Bit. For the computer 8-Bit is the important information. This means each pixel has three variables, which range from 0 to 255. So, each pixel writes something like this “0 / 134 / 208”. The Fact that an image is sRGB or AdobeRGB is just saved in the EXIF information. That’s why you don’t need more processing power for a large color space. More processing power is only needed if you increase the bit-depth. For example, a 16/48-Bit file needs twice the size and stores three variables ranging from 0 to 65535.

For video it is the same. In this example the card can handle video up to 7680×4320 at 60hz, without chroma subsampling, so each pixel stores 3x12bit of information. This allows the card to handle 71,663,616,000 bit/sec or in other words 8.34 Gbyte/sec of video information. The color space is again only a defined in the header information, but the card doesn’t care if the signal is sRGB, Rec709 or Rec2020

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